80 Proceedings. 



Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. — A not unfrequent visitor, 

 and much more often observed than the last-mentioned. 

 The remarkable vibrating somad, almost to be called creaking, 

 that is produced by the very rapid strokes of its beak on a 

 tree, when once heard is always afterwards recognisable. It 

 is about the same size as the Nuthatch, but it is remarkable 

 how very different they are in their movements in a tree, 

 both as to climbing, striking at a bough, and in other points. 



Wryneck. — Arrives usually about April 14th, and no 

 doubt breeds most years with us, though we do not always know 

 of its nest. It has bred in a hole in an Ash, which in other 

 years has been occupied by Nuthatches, Blue Tits, and 

 Starlings. 



Creeper. — I think we generally have but one pair. The 

 nest is one of the smallest internally of any that I know, and 

 is sometimes placed in rather curious situations. 



Wren. — Very common. Wrens seem to have a habit of 

 sometimes beginning a nest very early in the year (I once 

 found one begun as early as February 4th), and leaving it 

 perhaps only half-finished for a month or two, and ultimately 

 completing and using it. 



Nuthatch. — We have one pan- constantly resident, and 

 they breed regularly ; and I think have made use of most of 

 the available holes one year or another, always plastering 

 some clay round the entrance, even when it seems so small 

 as to render the process unnecessary. In a large Elm-tree, 

 where they one year occupied a hole, I have found at one 

 time or another nine different kinds of nests with eggs, tiz., 

 Flycatcher, Missel Thrush, Song Thrush, Blackbuxl, Kobin, 

 Greenfinch, Starling, Wren, and Nuthatch. 



Cuckoo. — Visits us every summer, but I doubt if it often 

 lays in our grounds. In 1 868 an egg was found in a Hedge- 

 sparrow's nest on May 23rd, and another in another Hedge- 

 sparrow's nest in the same hedge on June 13th, probably laid 

 by the same bird. 



Kingfisher. — Pays visits not unfi'equently to the small 

 pond in our garden, where it has often been seen to catch 

 Goldfish or Carp. 



